GF Advanced Expiring Entries WP Registry grade A. No security issues foundWP RegistryNo security issues foundOpen the reportA

A Gravity Forms Feed Add-On that lets you create per-form expiration rules for entries. When an entry is submitted, the plugin computes an expiry timestamp and stores it as entry meta. A background job periodically checks for due entries and triggers the configured action. Pre-expiry and post-expiry notifications can be sent automatically.

Expiry Sources

• Fixed date — set a single calendar date shared by all entries on a form
• Dynamic (date field) — base expiry on any Date-type form field, with optional offset and day-snapping
• Entry date — expire relative to entry creation or last-updated date with configurable offset

Expiry Actions

• Move to Trash — soft-delete the entry (recoverable from GF trash)
• Permanently Delete — removes the entry; a full backup is saved to a dedicated database table before deletion
• Change Status — mark as read, unread, or starred
• Update a Field Value — set any field to a new value on expiry
• Fire a Webhook — send entry data to an external URL (POST or GET)
• Trigger a GF Notification — fire any existing Gravity Forms notification
• Anonymize — wipe all field values from the entry while keeping the entry row itself, preserving submission counts; optionally clear IP/URL, user reference, and delete uploaded files

Key Features

• Pre-Expiry Notifications: Send a GF notification minutes, hours, days, or weeks before an entry expires
• Post-Expiry Notifications: Send a GF notification after a successful or failed expiry action, with configurable delay
• Per-Entry Overrides: Admins can override, extend, or exempt individual entries from the entry detail sidebar
• Dashboard Widget: At-a-glance summary of active, expiring-soon, and expired entries per form
• Dry-Run Mode: Log every action without executing, for safe testing before going live
• Retroactive Tool: Apply expiry rules to existing entries that pre-date plugin installation
• Conditional Logic: Process feeds only when specific field conditions are met
• Live Feed Summary: Real-time human-readable description of the feed rule as you configure it
• Expiry Log: Full audit log of every action with live AJAX filtering by form, action type, and result
• Self-Healing Cron: Detects and recovers from stalled wp_cron events automatically
• Multilingual: Works with content in any language
• Translation-Ready: All strings are internationalized; French translation included
• Secure: Nonce-verified AJAX, capability checks, prepared SQL queries throughout
• GitHub Updates: Automatic updates from GitHub releases via the WordPress admin

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0 or higher
• PHP 8.1 or higher
• Gravity Forms 2.7 or higher

Installation

1. Upload the gf-advanced-expiring-entries folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress
3. Navigate to a form → Settings → Expiring Entries to create your first expiry feed
4. Adjust global settings (dry-run mode, check interval) under Forms → Settings → Expiring Entries

FAQ

Does this plugin require Gravity Forms?

Yes. Gravity Forms 2.7 or later is required. The plugin will not load without it.

What happens if wp_cron is not running properly?

The plugin includes a self-healing mechanism that detects overdue cron events and runs the expiry check inline while rescheduling for the future. No manual intervention needed.

Is permanently deleted entry data recoverable?

Yes. Before permanent deletion, the full entry data and action log are backed up to the wp_gf_aee_deleted_entries database table.

Can I customize the available expiry actions?

Yes, use the gf_aee_expiry_actions filter:

add_filter( 'gf_aee_expiry_actions', function( $actions ) {
    $actions[] = array(
        'label' => 'My Custom Action',
        'value' => 'my_custom',
    );
    return $actions;
} );

Then handle it with the gf_aee_custom_expiry_action filter.

Can I modify the computed expiry timestamp?

Yes, use the gf_aee_computed_expiry_ts filter:

add_filter( 'gf_aee_computed_expiry_ts', function( $expiry_ts, $entry, $feed, $form ) {
    // Add 1 hour to every computed expiry
    return $expiry_ts + HOUR_IN_SECONDS;
}, 10, 4 );

How do I enable debug logging?

Define GF_AEE_DEBUG as true in your wp-config.php:

define( 'GF_AEE_DEBUG', true );

Debug messages will appear in wp-content/debug.log (requires WP_DEBUG_LOG).

Project Structure

.
├── gf-advanced-expiring-entries.php    # Main plugin bootstrap
├── readme.txt                          # WordPress.org-style readme
├── README.md                           # This file
├── uninstall.php                       # Cleanup on uninstall
├── admin
│   ├── assets
│   │   ├── feed-settings.css           # Admin styles (badges, log, summary)
│   │   └── feed-settings.js            # Datepicker, AJAX tools, live summary
│   └── views
│       └── entry-meta-box.php          # Entry detail sidebar meta box
├── includes
│   ├── class-gf-aee-addon.php          # Core Feed Add-On class
│   ├── class-gf-aee-dashboard.php      # Dashboard widget
│   ├── class-gf-aee-expiry-runner.php  # Executes expiry actions per entry
│   ├── class-gf-aee-feed-settings.php  # Feed settings field definitions
│   ├── class-gf-aee-log.php            # Expiry event audit log
│   ├── class-gf-aee-meta.php           # Entry meta CRUD helpers
│   ├── class-gf-aee-processor.php      # Computes expiry on submission
│   ├── class-gf-aee-scheduler.php      # Self-healing wp_cron scheduling
│   └── class-github-updater.php        # GitHub auto-updates
└── languages
    ├── gf-advanced-expiring-entries-fr_FR.mo   # French translation (binary)
    ├── gf-advanced-expiring-entries-fr_FR.po   # French translation (source)
    └── gf-advanced-expiring-entries.pot         # Translation template

Changelog

1.3.1 - 2026-04-03

• Fixed: WordPress 6.7+ "Translation loading triggered too early" warning — moved cron scheduler setup from pre_init() to init() action

1.3.0 - 2026-04-03

• New: Anonymize expiry action — wipes all field values from the entry while keeping the entry row itself, preserving submission counts and petition totals
• New: Optional sub-settings for anonymization: clear IP address and source URL, clear "Created by" user reference, delete uploaded files from disk
• Improved: Feed summary and feed list column now display the new Anonymize action

1.2.5 - 2026-03-30

• Improved: GitHub updater rewritten — "View details" modal now shows Description, Installation, FAQ, and Changelog tabs parsed from README.md using Parsedown
• Improved: "View details" thickbox link added to the plugin row on the Plugins page
• Improved: Sidebar in the plugin details modal shows "Requires Gravity Forms" for GF add-on compatibility

1.2.4 - 2026-03-12

• New: Expiry Log now shows future expirations — entries scheduled to expire are displayed in the same table with expiry date, feed action, and status badges
• New: Period filter in the Expiry Log: "All expirations" (default), "Past expirations", and "Future expirations" — live AJAX filtering like all other dropdowns
• Improved: When "Future expirations" is selected, the Action and Success filters are greyed out (disabled) since they don't apply
• Improved: Expiry Log form dropdown now only lists forms that have at least one Expiring Entries feed
• Improved: Expiry Log now displays 10 entries per page (down from 50) for faster loading
• Improved: Feed add-on short title is now translatable — French displays "Flux d'expiration" instead of "Flux Expiring Entries"

1.2.3 - 2026-03-11

• New: Custom "Expiring Entries" notification event — create dedicated GF notifications that won't fire on form submission, designed for pre-expiry, post-expiry, or expiry action use
• Improved: Retroactive tool form dropdown now only shows forms that have at least one active Expiring Entries feed
• Improved: Retroactive tool now includes a processing mode selector: process only entries without an expiry timestamp, or recompute all entries
• Improved: Retroactive tool description text updated to reflect the new processing mode option

1.2.2 - 2026-03-11

• Improved: When the form has a single date field, it is automatically preselected in the Date Field dropdown
• Improved: "Expire At" time picker is now visible for all three expiry types (including Fixed Date)
• Improved: Offset direction, value, and unit fields are now equal width for a cleaner layout

1.2.1 - 2026-03-11

• Improved: Expiry Type selector is now a button group (Entry Date / Date Field / Fixed Date) instead of radio buttons
• Improved: Entry Date is now the default expiry type
• Improved: Time offset is always visible for Date Field and Entry Date types (defaults to 0 minutes) — removed the "Add a time offset" checkbox
• Improved: Date Field button is automatically disabled (greyed out) when the form has no date fields
• Improved: Each expiry type button now shows a tooltip on hover explaining its purpose
• Improved: Replaced "Snap To" (Advanced options) with a clearer "Expire At" time-of-day picker — choose an exact hourly time instead of vague "start/end of day" snapping
• Fixed: Timezone mismatch — date field values and fixed dates were parsed as UTC instead of the WordPress timezone, causing wrong expiry times
• Fixed: Snap-to (now "Expire At") was applied after the offset instead of before, cancelling the offset when snapping to day boundaries

1.2.0 - 2026-03-11

• Improved: Merged Pre-Expiry, Post-Expiry (Success), and Post-Expiry (Fail) notification panels into a single "Notifications" section — same features, less visual noise
• Improved: Offset Direction, Value, and Unit fields now display on a single inline row instead of three separate rows
• Improved: "Snap To" option is now tucked behind an "Advanced options" toggle to reduce default complexity
• Improved: Renamed "Empty Date Fallback" section to "Missing Date Handling" for clarity

1.1.2 - 2026-03-10

• Fixed: Pre-expiry notifications could be sent after the entry had already expired when the notification timestamp was in the past (e.g. retroactive processing or short remaining time)
• Fixed: Setting a manual override date did not reschedule the pre-expiry notification for the new date
• Fixed: Dashboard widget did not count entries with a manual override (extended status) in Active and Expiring Soon totals
• Fixed: Uninstall cleanup was incomplete — now removes post-notification meta keys, single-fire cron events, and entry snapshot transients
• Fixed: Compatibility with the Members plugin — feed settings page was blank and submenu was missing from the forms list because the addon did not declare $_capabilities

1.1.1 - 2026-03-09

• Fixed: WordPress 6.7+ "Translation loading triggered too early" warning caused by esc_html__() in the cron_schedules filter
• Fixed: PHP "Undefined property: stdClass::$slug" warning on update-core.php — added missing id, slug, plugin, and new_version fields to the GitHub updater response

1.1.0 - 2026-03-05

• New: Post-Expiry Notifications — send a GF notification after a successful or failed expiry action, with configurable delay
• New: Entry data snapshot for post-expiry notifications — merge tags resolve correctly even when the entry was trashed or deleted
• Improved: Expiry Log now filters live via AJAX (removed the "Filter" button)
• Improved: Retroactive tool dropdowns displayed inline on a single line without labels
• Improved: Time and Unit fields displayed inline on a single line in all three notification panels

1.0.2 - 2026-03-04

• Fixed: Translation loading triggered too early warning on WordPress 6.7+ (_load_textdomain_just_in_time)

1.0.1 - 2026-03-03

• Improved: Retroactive tool now shows a dropdown of feed names instead of requiring a raw Feed ID

1.0.0 - 2026-03-03

• New: Initial release
• New: Fixed, dynamic, and entry-date expiry types with offset and day-snapping
• New: 6 expiry actions — Trash, Delete (with backup), Change Status, Update Field, Webhook, Notification
• New: Pre-expiry notifications with configurable lead time
• New: Per-entry override, extension, and exemption from entry detail sidebar
• New: Dashboard widget with active/expiring-soon/expired counts per form
• New: Dry-run mode for safe testing
• New: Retroactive processing tool for existing entries
• New: Conditional logic support on feeds
• New: Live AJAX feed summary in feed settings
• New: Full expiry audit log with filters and pagination
• New: Self-healing wp_cron with overdue event detection
• New: Colour-coded sortable "Expires" column in entry list
• New: GitHub auto-updater for seamless updates
• New: French translation

License

This project is licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0) - see the LICENSE file for details.

Made with love for the WordPress community